I have three problems that need immediate attention, and would appreciate any insight as to how I can acheive this: 1) A few years back, I suspected ID theft because a few utilities, etc. showed up on my credit file that were not mine. I filed a police report (bask in 2003), and plan to send the info in to the credit bureaus, and believe they should automatically delete the info based on laws under the new FACTA legislation - I think it gives them a week to do so? It it that easy or will they fight me? First though, I have problem #2 below... 2) When I suspected ID theft, I was one of the first consumers in California to use the 'freeze' option on my credit report. I could swear when I placed it on the report the bureaus told me it expired after one year...but here I am 5 years later, and all of my reports are still locked !! Worse than that, I LOST the unfreeze codes when I moved from CA to CT, and despite many , many faxes and letters to the bureaus with proof of my new address and personal info in CT., they refuse to unlock the reports. Now, because my file has been inactive so long, all the accounts are 'closed' (I rarely used credit in the past and only has a few small accounts that I paid off), so two of my 3 reports now have no FICO score to boot, so even when they do get unfrozen, if someone can PLEASE tell me how to do this, I have to rebuild a file from scratch...which is question 3 below 3) Can anyone recommend a secured card/service that reports as unsecured on the credit report so I can at least get any account to report on there...two or three is better than one, but if you have any ideas of secured card companies that would do this I'd appreciate it! Thanks.
1) Shouldn' be an issue, 2) You may have to institute a civil action against the credit reporting agencies if they will not unlock the files. You've been damaged to some extent I will presume. Not an excellent option but, seems as though you've attempted everything else. 3) A secured account is going to be brand new. It will not likely help your scores and could hurt them. I do understand that you need recent activity in order to produce a score but, there are better methods. Do you have someone that may add you to some existing accounts?
Credit Disaster--Please help I think earlier this year there was a law passed that the bureaus would no longer allow authorized user accounts. This was because of some scam that occured with a company that was raising folks credit scores by charging to put them on as authorized users on accounts where they weren't really users.
There is no such law. Nor is it technically a scam. Unorthodoxed, yes; unethical, maybe; exploitative of a system that exploits consumers, yes.
Credit Disaster--Please Sorry it's not a law. It's just that Fico has made an adjustment that will remove authorized user accounts from consideration by the scoring model of Fico 08, the newest version of the classic FICO credit score, which was available to all lenders in September of 07. In short, it will no longer help to increase anyone's score.
J.A.M.: I will forgive you insofar as you are a newbie but, you have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not going to pontificate on this subject herein insofar as I've done it over and over but, FICO 08' is not in use and in my opinion, it never will be. It is illegal to use under the ECOA assuming it ever comes into existence. There is a huge thread on this matter on this very board. Read it. AU accounts are scored now and are effective . . .
